US 12,301,708 B2
Cryptographic key management for distributed quantum computing systems
Leigh Griffin, Waterford (IE); and Stephen Coady, Dublin (IE)
Assigned to Red Hat, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US)
Filed by Red Hat, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US)
Filed on Mar. 27, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/190,296.
Prior Publication US 2024/0333482 A1, Oct. 3, 2024
Int. Cl. H04L 29/06 (2006.01); H04L 9/08 (2006.01)
CPC H04L 9/0852 (2013.01) [H04L 9/088 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for accessing a cryptographic key that is stored by a quantum computing system (QCS) that comprises a first set of quantum hardware (QH) that includes a first set of allocated qubits, a second set of QH that includes a second set of allocated qubits, and a third set of QH, the method comprising:
receiving, at the QCS, an access request for the cryptographic key, wherein the first set of allocated qubits encodes a first portion of the cryptographic key and the second set of allocated qubits encodes a second portion of the cryptographic key;
in response to receiving the access request, receiving, at the third set of QH and from the first set of QH, a first transmission that includes an encoding of the first portion of the cryptographic key;
in response to receiving the access request, receiving, at the third set of QH and from the second set of QH, a second transmission that includes an encoding of the second portion of the cryptographic key;
generating, at the third set of QH, a first encoding of the cryptographic key based on the first transmission from the first set of QH and the second transmission from the second set of QH, wherein the first encoding of the cryptographic key encodes at least the first portion and the second portion of the cryptographic key; and
providing, from the QCS and to a requesting party that is associated with the access request, a third transmission that is based on the first encoding of the cryptographic key.